Mercedes under pressure from rivals than ever before: Hamilton

Johannesburg : Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton has admitted that his Mercedes team are under more pressure from rivals than ever before, insisting that they need to work on their deficiencies in order to defend the Formula One title.

Hamilton, whose title defence started with a series of technical failures, registered his first win of the season in the Monaco Grand Prix last month. The win over Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo reduced his deficit to team mate Nico Rosberg to 24 points.

Meanwhile, Ricciardo and Ferrari duo of Kimi Raikonnen and Sebastian Vettel remain only few points behind the three-time world champion.

Hamilton said that there is still a long way to go in the season, adding that opening six races showed that the anyone could win the championship, Sport24 reported.

The Briton also stated that he was grateful to his mechanics for sticking with him despite enduring a horror start to his title defence. He said that he had proven that he was as strong as he had ever been, insisting that he would continue his new-found form for the rest of the season.